Four charges were brought by the Environment Agency concerning incidents which it says took place at the Manchester company between February 2000 and November 2002 (see letsrecycle.com story).
In a court appearance yesterday, Oldham magistrates heard that Britannia could not produce records to show where environmentally harmful gases from its fridges had been sent – breaking a condition of the company's licence.
Robert Bulcock, the sole director of Britannia, claimed that the paperwork had been stolen during a break-in. However, according to the Environment Agency, no break-in was reported to the police.
Mr Bulcock had said that from January to November 2001, gases had been removed by a company called KJ Refrigeration, with gas canisters being sent to a company by the name of Refrigerant Products. However, no evidence existed to support this claim, the Agency said. Following this date, Mr Bulcock had said that waste gas was going to Turner's Refrigeration, but the Agency was unable to trace a company of that name.
A statement from the Environment Agency issued after the court hearing said: “Polluting CFC gases from the fridges collected by Britannia in 2001 would have amounted to nearly 4,000kg. One CFC molecule can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules – meaning that releasing these gases into the atmosphere would have caused serious risk to the environment.”
The court heard that by failing to have CFC gases properly disposed of, Britannia would have saved more than 15,000, and that the company had received about 87,000 for storing the waste fridges.
Further Agency investigations found that waste transfer notes were not completed properly to indicate waste was being transported by a registered carrier or that it was being taken to a licensed site. Mr Bulcock was also found to be running a site storing 3,500 fridges without a Waste Management Licence.
The case against Britannia Import Export was adjourned until August 11 for sentencing.
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